This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 1999-3897, filed on Feb. 5, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera-mounted wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a two-way wireless portable video/audio communication system for transmitting and receiving video and audio signals using a microcomputer.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In conventional communication fields, such as a wireless two-way radio communication system, video transmission and wireless video transmission, there have been provided a variety of devices capable of transmitting and receiving audio and video signals by wireless means or by wire. These video communication devices may be of such a desktop type or cabinet type that they are de signed with no restriction in device size and operating power, but they are not suitable for a portable device.
On the other hand, according to the rapid development of computer communication techniques, a wire less portable video communication device capable of overcoming restrictions in space and time has been required by enterprises or persons in various industrial fields.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a two-way portable wireless video/audio communication system that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it provides a wireless communication system with the same industrial applicability and object as those in a wireless communication system shown in Korean Patent Application No. 1999-634 and its counterpart U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/481,652, which are incorporated herein by reference. More particularly, the present invention provides a wireless communication system which is capable of being efficiently controlled by a microcomputer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a two-way portable wireless video/audio communication system in which a portable terminal is used in a hand-held manner and includes a video input camera and a video output display, thereby implementing wireless video communication together with audio communication.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a personal video communication system in which a plurality of identical personal terminals constitute one communication group operating at the same frequency.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a video communication system in which a portable terminal includes transmission on/off switches for video and audio signals so that it can be driven in a battery power saving manner.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a portable wireless communication system having a microprocessor unit having a memory, the microprocessor unit checking states of a video mode switch, an audio transmission switch, a video channel selection switch, an audio channel selection switch and a video freeze switch and generating a plurality of control signals to a video transmission/reception circuit, an audio transmission/reception circuit, a video path control circuit and a video memory control circuit in accordance with the checked results; the audio transmission/reception circuit being connected between an audio antenna and an audio circuit, the audio circuit including a microphone and a speaker, and responsive to an audio channel control signal and an audio transmission control signal from the microprocessor unit, for adjusting an audio transmission/reception channel frequency and driving an audio power amplifier; the video transmission/reception circuit being connected between a video antenna and the video path control circuit and responsive to a video channel control signal and a video transmission control signal from the microprocessor unit, for adjusting a video transmission/reception channel frequency and driving a video power amplifier; the video path control circuit being responsive to a video path control signal from the microprocessor unit corresponding to any one of N, X and R modes selected by the video mode switch, for transferring a video signal from a camera circuit to a display circuit in the N mode, a video signal from a remote terminal, received through the video transmission/reception circuit, to the display circuit in the R mode and the video signal from the camera circuit to both the display circuit and video transmission/reception circuit in the X mode and responsive to a video path control signal from the microprocessor unit corresponding to an on state of the video freeze switch, for blocking a moving image from the camera circuit and receiving a freeze image from the video memory control circuit; and the video memory control circuit being responsive to a video capture command from the microprocessor unit corresponding to the on state of the video freeze switch in the X mode, for capturing the video signal from the camera circuit in an instant, storing the captured video signal as the freeze image in a video memory and outputting the stored freeze image to the video path control circuit.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method of transmitting receiving video and audio signal using a portable wireless communication system comprises the steps of: (a) checking states of a video mode switch, an audio transmission switch, a video channel selection switch, an audio channel selection switch and a video freeze switch and generating a plurality of control signals to a video transmission/reception circuit, an audio transmission/reception circuit, a video path control circuit and a video memory control circuit in accordance with the checked results; (b) sending an audio channel control signal and an audio transmission control signal to the audio transmission/reception circuit to adjust an audio transmission/reception channel frequency and drive an audio power amplifier, the audio transmission/reception circuit being connected between an audio antenna and an audio circuit, the audio circuit including the microphone and speaker; (c) sending a video channel control signal and a video transmission control signal to the video transmission/reception circuit to adjust a video transmission/reception channel frequency and drive a video power amplifier, the video transmission/reception circuit being connected between a video antenna and the video path control circuit; (d) sending a video path control signal corresponding to any one of N, X and R modes selected by the video mode switch to the video path control circuit to transfer a video signal from a camera circuit to a display circuit in the N mode, a video signal from a remote terminal, received through the video transmission/reception circuit, to the display circuit in the R mode and the video signal from the camera circuit to both the display circuit and video transmission/reception circuit in the X mode and sending a video path control signal corresponding to an on state of the video freeze switch to the video path control circuit to block a moving image from the camera circuit and receive a freeze image from the video memory control circuit; and (e) sending a video capture command corresponding to the on state of the video freeze switch in the X mode to the video memory control circuit to capture the video signal from the camera circuit in an instant, store the captured video signal as the freeze image in a video memory and output the stored freeze image to the video path control circuit.